Crafty Card-Crafting down in the Vale

“Mystic Vale”

designed by John D. Clair, published by AEG Games

Regenerate the blighted land in this fantasy-themed card game. Instead of just a deck-building game, features a “card-building” mechanic with clear cards that you slip into sleeves to power your cards on the way to gaining the most victory points. On your turn, flip over cards to see how much power you have. But be careful, if you reveal too many blight tokens, your turn ends and you get (almost nothing). Use your available power to buy upgrades WHICH YOU ADD TO YOUR ALREADY EXISTING CARDS. Build up your cards, buy more powerful card parts, then eventually buy lands for more powers and even more victory points.

Feels like “Splendor,” but with do-it-yourself cards. Might seem gimmicky, but it’s a solid system and provides lots of interesting possibilities and choices.